British Masters Championships

The British Masters Championship took place in Bristol’s home of weighlifting, Empire Sports Club. Male and female lifters aged 35 to 85 came together to contest titles in various age and weight categories. Successful lifters would qualify for the European in Kusadasi, Turkey in May and have a shot to progress to the World Masters in Turino in August.

In weightlifting each athlete is allowed three attempts at each chosen weight for each lift. Three referees judge the lift.

If the lift is successful, the referee immediately hits a white button and a white light is turned on, indicating the lift as successful. If this happens, the score is recorded.

If a lift is unsuccessful or deemed invalid, then the referee indicates this by using the red button and a red light goes off. The highest score for each lift is the one that gets used as the official value for the lift.

Once the highest value has been collected for each lift, the total weight lifted in the snatch is added to the total weight lifted in the clean and jerk. The lifter with the highest combined weight lifted wins. If there is a tie, then the lifter whith the lower body weight wins.

Steve Cannon and Bill Barton talk us through the British Masters Weightlifting Championships

Empire pulled out all the stops as hosts, producing a fantastic lifting platform complete with big screen projection and warm up area with a live feed of the competition area. Ten sessions were planned over the two days of action starting with the oldest categories and female competitions.

Session one consisted of the M80+ (Men 80 years old and over), M75 (Men 75-79 years), and M55 (Men 55-59 years old). Derek Stewart, 82, was the only competitor in the M80+ category (62kg BWCat) . In this session he was joined by John McNiven (62kg BWCat), Eric Dolman (69kg BWCat), Alex Hart (77kg BWCat), Atrhur Baker (77kg BWCat), George Byng (85kg BWCat), Robert Crisp (94kg BWCat), Frank Howgate (94kg BWCat) and Jim Ferguson (105+kg BWCat) who were all in the M75 category. Alibinas Nauseda (77kg BWCat) also lifted in the session as the sole competitor in the M55 category.

Derek completed three successful snatches at 29kg, 30kg, and 31kg. John McNiven and Eric Dolman both made 35kg lifts. Robert Crisp failed at 35kg in his second attempt but nailed it using his third attempt. John McNiven and Eric Dolman both lifted 37kg, but Eric managed to better John’s final lift of 38kg by one kilo to tally 39kg for his snatch total. Arthur Baker went straight through 40kg, 43kg, and 45kg while Alex Hart caught 37kg but missed 42kg twice.

Albinas Nauseda successfully made 40kg but couldn’t make the next chosen step of 43kg. Frank Howgate got off the mark with snatches of 41kg and 45kg while George Byng made 43kg and 46kg with his first two attempts and finished on 49kg. Jim Ferguson came out late to lift 57kg, 60kg and 62kg in the snatch.

Derek continued his perfect lifting set by making clean and jerk lifts of 30kg, 31kg and 33kg. Eric Dolman made 45kg but needed two bites at 48kg George Byng mirrored this pattern with a 43kg, and two goes at 48kg. John McNiven made 47kg and 49kg but missed a 51kg clean and jerk. Albinas Nauseda reached 55kg, Alex Hart 45kg and Arthur Baker lifted the most in his weight category with a clean and jerk of 57kg. Robert Crisp missed 47kg to finish with a tally of 45kg and Frank Howgate recorded 55kg after attempting and failing 60kg. Jim Ferguson got three good lifts of 78kg, 81kg and 83kg.

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Lynn Dolman went first in the snatch with a lift of 21kg, then 23kg and failed at 25kg. Then Gwendolyn Leick was up with a lift of 25kg, missed 27kg then got 27kg. Trisha Forbes 30kg, 33kg, and 35kg lifts. Claire Cameron made 34kg, missed 36kg, then made 36kg. Bronwin Carter lifted 37kg, 39kg, 40kg. Beverley Pattison got 37kg, 41kg and 44kg. Dyana Altenor started with 45kg, 48kg and 50kg while Joanne McManus hoisted 47kg, 50kg and 53kg.

In the clean and jerk Lynn opened with 22kg, missed 26kg, then made 26kg. Gwendolyn Leick started with 35kg, 37kg and missed 40kg. Trisha Forbes 42kg, 46kg, 50kg. Claire Cameron went with 47kg, missed 49kg and made 50kg. Bronwin Carter came in with 52kg, 54kg and missed 55kg. Beverley Pattison made 58kg, 61kg and missed 63kg. Joanne McManus missed all three attempts at 58kg. Dyana Altenor lifted 62kg, 66kg and 68kg.

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Janet Dickinson opened with a snatch lift of 32kg, 35kg and 38kg. Susannah Cole started with 35kg, 38kg but missed 40kg. Joanne Simpson made 42kg and 44kg but missed 46kg. Justine Davis-Hurst made 45kg, 47kg and got a no lift at 50kg. Janine Murphy successfully lifted 48kg, 52kg and 55kg. Annie Ottey made 50kg and 53kg and passed the last lift attempt. Sonia Stephens came in at 53kg and went on to make 56kg and 60kg. Jennifer Maysmor-Gee made 53kg, 56kg and 60kg.

Janet Dickinson opened the clean and jerk with a 39kg lift and went on to 43kg but failed 47kg. Susannah Cole missed 50kg on her first attempt but caught it on her second and got a no lift at 55kg. Justine Davis-Hurst got 55kg, 57kg and 60kg. Annie Ottey made 60kg after missing 58kg and passed on her last lift. Joanne Simpson lifted 59kg and needed two goes at 61kg. Sonia Stephens came in at 65kg and went on to 70kg but missed 75kg. Janine Murphy continued her good form to record 68kg, 74kg and 80kg. Jennifer Maysmor-Gee pulled 70kg and 75kg but missed her final lift.

Andrzej Skrypij opened the session aiming to lift 50kg. He missed 50kg twice and attempted 55kg without success, which meant his competition was over. John Walton stepped up and made 50kg, then needed two bites at 55kg. Patrick Atteridge hit 55kg, 60kg, but failed to register 62kg. Michael Butterworth made three good snatches of 60kg, 63kg, and 66kg. Dave Dargue also showed consistency making three good lifts of 65kg, 68kg and 70kg. Mark Beck came in at 75kg, despite trying twice, missed 80kg.

In the clean and jerk John Walton picked up 60kg, but was unable to progress to 65kg. Patrick Atteridge recorded three good lifts of 70kg, 75kg and 77kg. Dave Dargue opened his clean and jerk with 75kg, then proceeded to a successful 80kg lift but got a no lift at 83kg. Michael Butterworth made 75kg, 77kg, and 80kg. Mark Beck demonstrated his quality lifting 95kg, 100kg and 103kg despite being the smallest competitor in this session.

In the last session of day one, there was some great lifting to be watched. Alex Phillips snatched 48kg, missed 52kg but increased the weight to 54kg for his last successful attempt. Chris Halsall made three good lifts of 60kg, 65kg, 67kg. Mohammed Butt lifted 60kg on his second attempt but failed at 70kg on his last effort. David Mannion had three good lifts of 63kg, 66kg and 69kg.

John Collins entered at 75kg but was unsuccessful, but stepped up to 80kg and 85kg for his last two lifts. Mark Welch took three goes to successfully lift 85kg, while Andy Sutor smoothly lifted 80kg, 85kg and 90kg. Gurdawer Dhesi hit 85kg, missed 95kg on his second attempt but caught it with his final attempt. Graham Skinner came in at 90kg then made 97kg but missed 104kg.

Alex Phillips was the first to lift in the clean and jerk with an opening weight of 68kg and completing the lift on his second attempt. He continued on to raise 72kg with his third attempt. Chris Halsall made 80kg on his second attempt finishing with 85kg. Mohammed Butt opened with 85kg which would be his only successful clean and jerk as he registered a no lift at 90kg and 95kg.

David Mannion continued to be an entertaining lifter using his explosive vocal technique to hoist 93kg, and 98kg. It wasn’t enough for Mannion to get 101kg for his last lift.

John Collins made his way through 95kg and 100kg only to miss 105kg. Mark Welch started with 105kg then hit 110kg and failed 115kg. Graham Skinner picked up 110kg, 120kg but couldn’t convert 125kg. Andy Sutor continued his superb form and successfully negotiated 105kg, 115kg and 123kg. Gurdawer Dhesi performed better in the clean and jerk making 120kg, 125kg and 130kg.

The British Masters was an interesting event to watch, mainly because of the age range on display, but this did also highlight another spectacle; the number of empty places on the podium. In some cases all that was required was that you turn up, make 6 lifts and you can walk away with a title. Of course there is more to it than that, but what that perhaps shows is that there is room for more. A lot more. Olympic lifting is experiencing a resurgence in popularity for a number of different reasons, and perhaps the masters weightlifting landscape will change because of it. Oly lifting is good for you, and who knows, you good be good for Oly lifting.